622 U. S. BUKEAU OF FISHERIES 



Eaton and Cameron's method of applying this invention is to float 

 the fish in flowing brine in an elongated tank. A tank of this kind,, 

 used for the " Chilpack " product put up by the Deep Sea Fisheries, 

 Inc., at Rockland. Me., is about 30 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 3 

 feet deep. Perforated wooden panels, attached to a moving chain, 

 serve to carry the fish, fillets, or steaks under the brine and through 

 to the emergence end, very much after the manner of Goer de Herve 

 (see p. 588). Pipes situated along the side walls of the tank keep the 

 brine at from 20° to 25° during the freezing. 



REFRIGERATION ON MENHADEN STEAMERS 



Menhaden or bunkers (Brecoortia tyrarmus), the fish that have 

 been caught many years in large quantities along the Atlantic coast 

 for the manufacture of fertilizer, fish meal, and oil. have been held 

 in the holds of vessels, without ice or other refrigeration. The 

 steamers engaged in this fishery carry purse-seine boats that operate 

 the seines. When the seines surround the fish and are pursed below, 

 forming a bowl, the fish are scooped out. brought aboard the steamer, 

 and dumped in the hold. Here it has been the custom to leave them, 

 without ice or other preservative, until the vessel has accumulated a 

 catch, when it proceeds to the factory. In the several days that 

 sometimes elapse before the fish reach the factory much decomposi- 

 tion occurs, the odor becomes offensive in the neighborhood of the 

 factory, and some nitrogenous material is made soluble by decom- 

 position and is lost in the water pressed from the fish in manufac- 

 ture. Recently a method of applying refrigeration to preserve the 

 menhaden in the holds of the vessels was introduced by the Marine 

 Products, Inc., of Reedville, Va. John A. Palmer, of that firm, in 

 a private communication to the author, described the process as 

 follows : 



On the steamer Gloucester we take sea water into two closed round tanks, 

 4 feet in diameter and 8 feet long, each having 2.200 feet of cooling coil. 

 Ammonia is supplied to the coils through a manifold of five pipes, the outlets 

 being similar. The fish hold is supplied with a false bottom, from under 

 which sea water is pumped by a centrifugal pump through the tanks and to 

 ^4 -inch spray nozzles, which deliver the cooled sea water uniformly over the 

 fish. The water percolates among the fish to the false bottom, where it is 

 again picked up by the pump and put through the same cycle. After about 

 six hours the water is slimy and is pumped overboard and replaced by fresh 

 sea water. We use a double strainer next to the pump to remove scales, 

 dirt, etc. The size of the compressor is 7% by I 1 /* inch Frick two-cylinder. 

 This has taken care of 250 tons of fish and prevented decomposition. The 

 average temperature of the sprayed water is 42° F. 



The steamer Louise has cooling coils under the false bottom, and the water 

 is pumped from there directly back to the spray*, but we have not had good 

 results from this installation. We believe it to be because of the smaller 

 compressor. The C. M. Robinson Co. of Baltimore installed the Gloucester 

 outfit. 



ICING FISH 



Ice, the now almost universally used preservative for fish, has 

 been used for many years. The first record of its use in the United 

 States is that of a halibut smack out of Gloucester, Mass., in 1838, 

 natural ice, of course, being used. It was slow of adoption, and at 

 first the ice was not allowed to come in direct contact with the fish, 

 but was used only to keep the hold cool. When it was found to do 

 no harm the fish were packed in crushed ice. By 1845 ice was in 



